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I felt that way when fighting at the end of SPM. Other than that, I haven't gotten that vibe very much from Mario games.

Radishl wrote:

AirSeus wrote:Yeh, but Mario isn't Mario without Bowser.

I don't think you've played that many Mario games.

What I meant was a game isn't a game without its main antagonist.

TheKingOfBoos wrote:I felt that way when fighting

Spoiler: show

Dimentio

at the end of SPM. Other than that, I haven't gotten that vibe very much from Mario games.

Yeah, but to be fair, the majority of the Mario series and spin-offs are meant to be dark games, hence why you won't get any dark vibes. I mean, sure there's Luigi's Mansion, it's oddly disturbing beta material or the "Hell Valley Sky Trees" from the SMG series, but overall, Mario games are bright, fun and sometimes downright cute. Out of all the Mario games, SMB3 was probably the darkest of all, with it's giant hands, lands filled with skulls, tanks and ghosts, but still aside from this it was overall a more bright game.

Squishy Rex wrote:

TheKingOfBoos wrote:I felt that way when fighting

Spoiler: show

Dimentio

at the end of SPM. Other than that, I haven't gotten that vibe very much from Mario games.

Yeah, but to be fair, the majority of the Mario series and spin-offs are meant to be dark games, hence why you won't get any dark vibes. I mean, sure there's Luigi's Mansion, it's oddly disturbing beta material or the "Hell Valley Sky Trees" from the SMG series, but overall, Mario games are bright, fun and sometimes downright cute. Out of all the Mario games, SMB3 was probably the darkest of all, with it's giant hands, lands filled with skulls, tanks and ghosts, but still aside from this it was overall a more bright game.

SMB3 does have a creepy vibe. As does, again, SPM. Frickin' Underhands man.

Yeah, Bowser has never been scary. SMB Bowser was kind of creepy, because he looks kind of like a demon. Then, SMW Bowser was slightly intimidating and definitely evil looking. Ever since Super Mario RPG, however, he's basically been a massive doofus.

The thing is: Bowser didn't get less scary. You matured, and got better as a player. Back in the days, Bowser was a challenge for you because you were a kid (and video games are getting somewhat easier, but let's save that discussion for a different day), while today he just isn't. Bowser has never really been a villain made by the story of the game. He was made by the gameplay. As such, when you always kept dying to him, he seemed scarier, while nowadays you can rush through these boss fights because you've just gotten better at the game. If you objectively compare the final battle of SMW and NSMBU, you'll see that he didn't really get less scary; the music is still epic and somewhat eerie, he is still intimidating and both are about equally as hard to beat. However, you think of SMW Bowser as the harder, more intimidating boss because you were a kid back then. Trust me, kids today playing these games probably feel similar to how you felt back then.

Then there's the RPGs, and while I do enjoy Bowser as a character in those games, you are right in that he's not necessarily the bad guy there (see: BiS, SPM, SMRPG), you still fight against him at one point in time. I actually prefer this Bowser over the one in the main series, because he has more character and I feel like it helps make him more lovable, while of course this also means that he's less scary, I don't feel like it's bad. Bowser doesn't have to be the bad guy, I love creative villains like (spoilers for SPM, Dream Team and BiS)
and it shows that Bowser doesn't have to be the ultimate bad guy. I feel like these games hit the spot just right with Bowser being fearsome, while still being somewhat lovable.


then he goes go-karting with mario and my whole point falls flat

Spinda wrote:Then there's the RPGs, and while I do enjoy Bowser as a character in those games, you are right in that he's not necessarily the bad guy there (see: BiS, SPM, SMRPG), you still fight against him at one point in time. I actually prefer this Bowser over the one in the main series, because he has more character and I feel like it helps make him more lovable, while of course this also means that he's less scary, I don't feel like it's bad. Bowser doesn't have to be the bad guy, I love creative villains

In the first three games Bowser was nothing more than comic relief. Look at his dialogue and you'll see what I mean. Dream Team, on the other hand, is a pretty dark game when compared to its prequel, which is probably the funniest in the series, and possibly the darkest game in the Mario & Luigi series, and it actually featured Bowser in his really evil form, and he actually wanted to kidnap Peach after being on the sidelines for so long, he was now an insane, cruel, merciless villain. At one point at the end of the game you even had to go inside his dream while some really disturbing music plays in the background:


This music is really evil and hellish, while at the same time being calm and serene, and also kinda sad. It fits Bowser's mind perfectly at this point. In BiS, he was a comic relief character who had a good side, as the cake showed in the ending and how he reacted to it, which makes us feel like he actually felt happy with it and appreciated it. Assuming Dream Team took place after BiS he fell back into his dark ways again and really became a really evil tyrant. All the remaining good left in his heart is gone. Look at it; in Superstar Saga, he actually wants to do good for once but gets possessed by Cackletta. In Partners in Time he's not even all that evil, in BiS he is an anti-hero, and now he's basically the big bad guy. So he's actually become more and more evil throughout the games. It's kinda sad in some way, considering that when he finally wants to do good stuff for once he gets pushed out of the way, and now it's caused him to become like this. This music captures him perfectly.

Still made it fun in some games, like Superstar Saga... Actually that was the only Mario game ever I enjoyed it with him in it.

To me, Bowser always looked so cute! I just want to hug him! But I would probably get fried if I did.

Linik wrote:

Spinda wrote:Then there's the RPGs, and while I do enjoy Bowser as a character in those games, you are right in that he's not necessarily the bad guy there (see: BiS, SPM, SMRPG), you still fight against him at one point in time. I actually prefer this Bowser over the one in the main series, because he has more character and I feel like it helps make him more lovable, while of course this also means that he's less scary, I don't feel like it's bad. Bowser doesn't have to be the bad guy, I love creative villains

In the first three games Bowser was nothing more than comic relief. Look at his dialogue and you'll see what I mean. Dream Team, on the other hand, is a pretty dark game when compared to its prequel, which is probably the funniest in the series, and possibly the darkest game in the Mario & Luigi series, and it actually featured Bowser in his really evil form, and he actually wanted to kidnap Peach after being on the sidelines for so long, he was now an insane, cruel, merciless villain. At one point at the end of the game you even had to go inside his dream while some really disturbing music plays in the background:


This music is really evil and hellish, while at the same time being calm and serene, and also kinda sad. It fits Bowser's mind perfectly at this point. In BiS, he was a comic relief character who had a good side, as the cake showed in the ending and how he reacted to it, which makes us feel like he actually felt happy with it and appreciated it. Assuming Dream Team took place after BiS he fell back into his dark ways again and really became a really evil tyrant. All the remaining good left in his heart is gone. Look at it; in Superstar Saga, he actually wants to do good for once but gets possessed by Cackletta. In Partners in Time he's not even all that evil, in BiS he is an anti-hero, and now he's basically the big bad guy. So he's actually become more and more evil throughout the games. It's kinda sad in some way, considering that when he finally wants to do good stuff for once he gets pushed out of the way, and now it's caused him to become like this. This music captures him perfectly.

Yet Mario still inviting him to go Kart Racing, XD

Artemis008 wrote:

Linik wrote:

Spinda wrote:Then there's the RPGs, and while I do enjoy Bowser as a character in those games, you are right in that he's not necessarily the bad guy there (see: BiS, SPM, SMRPG), you still fight against him at one point in time. I actually prefer this Bowser over the one in the main series, because he has more character and I feel like it helps make him more lovable, while of course this also means that he's less scary, I don't feel like it's bad. Bowser doesn't have to be the bad guy, I love creative villains

In the first three games Bowser was nothing more than comic relief. Look at his dialogue and you'll see what I mean. Dream Team, on the other hand, is a pretty dark game when compared to its prequel, which is probably the funniest in the series, and possibly the darkest game in the Mario & Luigi series, and it actually featured Bowser in his really evil form, and he actually wanted to kidnap Peach after being on the sidelines for so long, he was now an insane, cruel, merciless villain. At one point at the end of the game you even had to go inside his dream while some really disturbing music plays in the background:


This music is really evil and hellish, while at the same time being calm and serene, and also kinda sad. It fits Bowser's mind perfectly at this point. In BiS, he was a comic relief character who had a good side, as the cake showed in the ending and how he reacted to it, which makes us feel like he actually felt happy with it and appreciated it. Assuming Dream Team took place after BiS he fell back into his dark ways again and really became a really evil tyrant. All the remaining good left in his heart is gone. Look at it; in Superstar Saga, he actually wants to do good for once but gets possessed by Cackletta. In Partners in Time he's not even all that evil, in BiS he is an anti-hero, and now he's basically the big bad guy. So he's actually become more and more evil throughout the games. It's kinda sad in some way, considering that when he finally wants to do good stuff for once he gets pushed out of the way, and now it's caused him to become like this. This music captures him perfectly.

Yet Mario still inviting him to go Kart Racing, XD

It would make more sense if the kart racing took place after Bowser had officially given up being evil and decided to accept Mario and Luigi as friends rather than enemies. If you remember when I put up my version of the Super Mario timeline, it put the Mario Karts at the end when Bowser had had enough with capturing Peach only to keep losing. But still, Dream Team is the darkest game in the M&L series, and I stopped playing when I heard this music, as it creeped me out.

Could you guys pls use spoilers if you gonna quote a huge text? It slows down some peoples browser heavily.

Okay, Sorry about that.

Good side of Bowser: kills people who else wanted the kingdom and Peach, probably did the work for Mario; saving his kids and troops I think; Being the star of my project ; more info I needed to find.

Bad side of Bowser: The usual way.

I cannot say Bowser is scary. He wasn't that scary.

And now that I see that you can put wings on Bowser in Super Mario Maker, I am really not scared of him anymore.
Bowser is demoted to my least favorite character now.

Wkay wrote:Bowser is demoted to my least favorite character now.

Just because of you being able to put wings on him and change his attack pattern because of it?

Yeah, Bowser isn't scary for me anymore like most of you. First time I played a Mario game, I thought he was a beast who chops people and he entered inside my nightmares all days. But then, once I defeated Bowser in a Mario game, I said to myself that I didn't have to scare too much. :/

Wkay wrote: Bowser is demoted to my least favorite character now.

I don't get it

Suckerman7 GM wrote:Yeah, Bowser isn't scary for me anymore like most of you. First time I played a Mario game, I thought he was a beast who chops people and he entered inside my nightmares all days. But then, once I defeated Bowser in a Mario game, I said to myself that I didn't have to scare too much. :/

Was your first Mario game Mario 64, by any chance? Bowser was portrayed as the most evil in this game. He had a demonic appearance at the end of the game, he physically stripped the Mushroom Kingdom of its power, and even the music that plays against him is very disturbing (organ in a N64 game...oh crap) which befits him nicely.

I dunno man, Bowser looks kind of adorable in the earlier N64 games, SM64 in particular.